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Volkswagen Passat

The Volkswagen Passat is a nameplate of large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 and also marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar and Carat — in saloon, estate, and hatchback body styles. With sales of 34 million units worldwide, the Passat is the fourth best-selling automobile of all time. A "four-door coupé" variant of the Passat with a lower roof was released in the North American market in 2008 as the Passat CC, which was then renamed to Volkswagen CC. The CC was succeeded by the Arteon in 2017. In January 2011, Volkswagen introduced a separate Passat model line, internally designated "Volkswagen New Midsize Sedan" or NMS, that was manufactured in the US at the Chattanooga assembly plant and in China at Nanjing by SAIC-Volkswagen. Developed to increase Volkswagen sales in North America, the Passat NMS is larger and costs less to produce, and is sold in North America, South Korea, China, and the Middle East. The separate B8 Passat model entered production, based on the MQB platform. In 2019, the Passat NMS programme was split into two as the North American one continued being produced on an older platform while the Chinese Passat moved on to the MQB platform, which resulted in Volkswagen marketing three models under the Passat nameplate globally at that time. The North American Passat was discontinued after the 2022 model year. Volkswagen ended the production of the saloon Passat for the European market in 2022. The B9 Passat, released in 2023, is only available in an estate body style. The Passat continues to be available as a saloon in China. The "Passat" is one of several Volkswagen models named after a wind: Passat is the German word for "Trade winds".

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UK certified builds812012–2026
Power (UK)148–268 hp
CO₂ (UK, WLTP/NEDC)7–155 g/km
Combined MPG (UK)706.2–941.6
Engine size1,498–1,984 cc
On UK roads222,2392025 Q4
US EPA MPG22–34
US recalls31

UK fuel mix: —. Records from the VCA fuel & emissions archive.

Model years

UK vehicles on the road

178,872 licensed and 43,367 SORN (222,239 total) at 2025 Q4.

Year (latest quarter)Vehicles
2014359,929
2015358,349
2016354,262
2017344,205
2018330,084
2019313,457
2020297,493
2021281,544
2022266,980
2023250,511
2024234,518
2025222,239

DfT/DVLA VEH0120 vehicle licensing statistics, source ↗, Open Government Licence v3.0. Small counts are rounded or suppressed at source.

US NHTSA safety ratings

VehicleOverallFrontSideRolloverSource
2022 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★☆☆ (3/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2021 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD Early Release★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2021 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD Later Release★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★☆☆ (3/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2020 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2019 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2018 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2017 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2016 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★☆ (4/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2015 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2014 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2013 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗
2012 Volkswagen Passat 4 DR FWD★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5)★★★★★ (5/5) ★★★★☆ (4/5)NHTSA ↗

NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings (US government, public domain). US-market versions; not the same tests as Euro NCAP.

US safety recalls

NHTSA recalls database (US government, public domain). Recalls apply to US-market vehicles; check the manufacturer for your country.

US EPA fuel-economy records

YearEngineDriveTransmissionFuelMPG (US) comb.CO₂ g/miEV range miSource
20222.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular28 315—EPA ↗
20212.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular28 314—EPA ↗
20202.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular27 330—EPA ↗
20192.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular29 302—EPA ↗
20182.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular29 302—EPA ↗
20183.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Regular22 396—EPA ↗
20171.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular27 329—EPA ↗
20173.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Regular23 390—EPA ↗
20161.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular29 306—EPA ↗
20163.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Regular23 390—EPA ↗
20151.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular28 315—EPA ↗
20151.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 5-spdRegular28 318—EPA ↗
20152.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 6-spdDiesel34 299—EPA ↗
20152.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Diesel33 305—EPA ↗
20153.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Premium23 390—EPA ↗
20141.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular28 323—EPA ↗
20141.8 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 5-spdRegular28 317—EPA ↗
20142.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Diesel34 290—EPA ↗
20142.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 5-spdRegular26 337—EPA ↗
20142.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular25 350—EPA ↗
20143.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Premium23 390—EPA ↗
20132.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Diesel34 290—EPA ↗
20132.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular25 351—EPA ↗
20132.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 5-spdRegular26 339—EPA ↗
20133.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (AM-S6)Premium23 390—EPA ↗
20122.0 L 4-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Diesel34 299—EPA ↗
20122.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveManual 5-spdRegular26 342—EPA ↗
20122.5 L 5-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Regular25 355—EPA ↗
20123.6 L 6-cyl Front-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S6)Premium23 386—EPA ↗

US EPA test figures (US MPG, US test cycle), fueleconomy.gov ↗, US government public domain.

Sources

More from Volkswagen